Updated 12:57 p.m.By Ben Pershing
A Senate committee on Thursday morning launched the first public hearing into the Fort Hood shooting attack with a focus on the perils of homegrown extremism and "political correctness" and with partial cooperation from the Obama administration.

The Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee hopes to probe what the government knew about shooting suspect Army Maj. Nidal Hasan and whether federal agencies either missed key warning signs or failed to communicate with each other before the attack. The panel heard from five experts on terrorism and homeland security.

Committee Chairman Joseph Lieberman (I-Conn.) started the hearing by calling the investigation "as serious as any this committee has even undertaken."

"The purpose of our investigation is to determine whether that attack could have been prevented, whether the federal agencies and employees involved missed signals or failed to connect the dots in a way that enabled Hasan to carry out his deadly plan," he said. "If we find such negligence we will make recommendations to guarantee, as best we can, that they never occur again."

Lieberman had hoped to have current administration officials appear, and specifically requested investigators from the FBI and the Department of Defense. But he was rebuffed by the White House, despite having made a direct appeal to FBI Director Robert Mueller.

Lieberman said in his opening statement that he had spoken with Defense Secretary Robert Gates and Attorney General Eric Holder Wednesday, and that both said they "wanted to cooperate so long as it did not hamper or compromise the criminal investigation and prosecution of Nidal Hasan."

Lieberman sounded cautiously optimistic that more information would be forthcoming, adding that the committee had received access to important classified documents.

"We're off to a good cooperative start," Lieberman said.

The chairman emphasized that the committee would seek to answer a few vital questions: What information did the government have on Hasan before the attacks, including e-mails he may have sent? What judgments were made about those e-mails? If the Joint Terrorism Task Force did have vital information on Hasan, was any of it shared with the U.S. Army?

Sen. Susan Collins (Maine), the panel's ranking Republican, reinforced Lieberman's points. She recalled that in the wake of the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks, investigations revealed that the attacks could possible have been prevented "if only the dots had been connected."

"In the wake of the mass murder at Fort Hood, we must once again confront a troubling question: Was this another failure to connect the dots?" Collins said.

The first witnesses at the session expressed fears that warning signs about Hasan may have been ignored or downplayed because he is Muslim.

"I worry about a sense of political correctness ... in a post-9/11 world," said Frances Fragos Townsend, the White House homeland security advisor during the Bush administration.

Retired Gen. John Keane recalled instances during his Army career when possible over-sensitivity to issues of ethnicity and religion made military leaders blind to potential threats.

"This is not about Muslims and their religion ... nor is it about the 10,000 Muslims in the military who are, quite frankly, not seen as Muslims but as soldiers, sailors and airmen," Keane said. "This is fundamentally about jihadist extremism, which is at odds with the values of America."

Lieberman agreed. "We have great respect for diversity of religion but it should not be cover for bad behavior," the chairman said.

Roughly half the committee members showed up for Thursday's hearing, including Sens. Carl Levin (D-Mich.) and John McCain (R-Ariz.), the chairman and ranking member, respectively, of the Armed Services Committee. That panel may eventually conduct its own probe, as may several other committees in the House and Senate.

But the other committees are holding off, for now, at the request of the Obama administration. Only Lieberman -- a self-described independent who still caucuses uneasily with Democrats -- has moved forward with a committee investigation.

A handful of Republicans, led by Rep. Peter Hoekstra (Mich.), the top GOP lawmaker on the Intelligence Committee, have gone so far as to suggest that the Obama administration is engaged in a form of cover-up by not sharing more information with Congress. (The House Intelligence panel did receive a classified briefing on Fort Hood Thursday morning.)

Lieberman and Collins have made no such allegation, but have asserted the Senate's constitutional right to press ahead and fulfill their oversight responsibilities. Yet because they had no current officials as witnesses, and because the law enforcement probe is ongoing, the panel mostly covered generalizations and hypotheticals rather than the specifics of Hasan's case.

"I want to commend the committee and the witnesses for not saying anything to jeopardize the prosecution of this man," Levin said, noting that any discussion of details could mar a future court case against Hasan

The homeland security committee has already spent much time in recent years investigating the threat of homegrown terrorism, and that is a key focus of Thursday's session.

"Unlike any event since 9/11, [Fort Hood] has fueled discussion about the specter and threat of a violent extremist ideology in our midst," said Juan Carlos Zarate, a former deputy national security advisor and expert on terrorism issues.

Lieberman also lamented that some commentary in the aftermath of the attack attributed Hasan's alleged actions to "mental stress or instability" and thus not to his adherence to any radical or jihadist ideology.

Sen. Lieberman rouses from his obstructionist slumber to actually have his committee do some work. Of course, the work has to do with yapping about the idiot neologism "political correctness" and engaging in hysteria about the imaginary Muslim menace that he and his fellow neoconservatives want Americans to cower in abject fear of. No, thank you, Senator. I don't want the terrorists' lives to be easier.

"political correctness", not actual qualifications, is what got Obama elected. He has no business in the WH, having never actually served his country thru selfless military service.
General Gates has been spewing garbage about how Muslims in the military aren't the problem but the shooter's actions speak a lot louder than all these moron's empty PC talk...

I hope front and center of the review of "extremism" is Islamic terrorism. However I never put it pass politicians to screw the pooch and perhaps blame apple pie and motherhood for the Ft. Hood terrorist attack.

Political correctness didn't just begin. Google race riot, USS Kitty Hawk and you can read about what happened in 1972 aboard a U S Navy ship at sea when a group of black sailors rioted and sent a number of white sailors to sick bay with injuries.

The Navy investigated and determined it wasn't a race riot caused by black sailors, it was a lack of discipline aboard the ship. They had to open a second brig to hold all the sailors they were incarcerating for minor offenses.

Ft. Hood occurred during Pres. Obama first 10 months in office and somehow it happened because of PC and Pres. Obama is not qualified, and other such foolishness. Correct me if I’m wrong but I know I’m not:). The alleged shooter has been in the Army for 8+ years. Let me see help me out here – who was Pres. when he became an officer. Oh yeah that’s right it was Bush.

Bush was in office for 9 months when September 11th occurred but it wasn't his fault and he kept us safe thereafter. WOW how low will people go to blame Pres. Obama? Most of the public is not that gullible and those who are will have many of us to set the record straight.

hypocritical PC whiners now want to "get to the bottom of this". anyone that has this hateful religious belief does not belong in the military or in the US.screw those that still mouth the BS that all muslims are not the enemy we are at war with these maniacs. proceed with the show trial the hang all of them

Any investigation of homegrown terror threats would not be complete without investigating the loony loose screws that Fox and the religious right are inundating with anti government propaganda, just trolling patiently for a would be assasin, and putting out messages that tell the loosest of the whack jobs that it is open season on the american president.

Our own american taliban religious right is selling t-shirts that quote a psalm to say about Obama: "may his children be fatherless - his wife a widow"

Muslims extremists claim god will reward them, so do the american taliban religious right. Disgusting. Line these fools up and execute them all.

Blaming Obama has never been the argument. Blaming political correctness, ignorance, over tolerance of bad behavior and lack of courage is more accurate - and yes - those types of values are supported more by the left than the right.

Our businesses, organizations and now our military have lost their courage. Nobody spoke up becasue they were afraid. which isn't difficult to understand.

It takes bravery to fight the enemy as war. It takes courage to stand up for what is right. The dividing line between the two is wide and getting wider.

"Homegrown terrorism", hardly, Nidal Hasan was simply acting in the manner and as an agent of Islamofascism's global terror network. He was a foot soldier in a very large network. There was nothing American in his thinking, nothing native about his religious intolerance. He is not in any manner a reflection of us.

The army is so desparate for majors that it promoted Dr Hasan without an interview or security check. His communications with a radical imam were deemed "benign" by intelligence gatherers. He freely talked about his religious beliefs and that he felt that what America was doing in Afghanistan and Iraq was wrong. He stated that he believed sharia should be the law of the land. How many red flags have to go up before someone notices them? This is a huge failing on the part of the army and security services. This could have been prevented if they were paying attention. Tragically, it passed them by.

I really wish people would stop calling him the "alleged" shooter... dozens of people saw him shooting in person. He is not alleged... we KNOW he did it. "Alleged" is for "guilt" or "innocense" - he's guilty of shooting people- this much we know.

There are MILLIONS of folks who harbor extreme views, and very, very, very few of them ever "go postal". Spending the resources to play "Big Brother" with everyone right of center will only bring about more resentment towards government.

The way you deal with "postal" situations is by having adequate armed security wherever people gather unarmed in large numbers (i.e., shopping malls, public events, military staging areas, etc...)

I think the post commander of Fort Hood could issue an order that all First Sergeants (of which there is 1/company of troops) are authorized to carry sidearms. So, the next time someone goes "postal" in a staging area, there will be a half dozen armed sergeants who can and will take the shooter down. END OF PROBLEM.

Gee: I wonder if they'll reinstate "war on terror" rather than "overseas contingency operation". The Administration has its own PC agenda, but the American people aren't buying. You fooled us enough, Mr. President, we're on to you now. When either US bankruptcy/Massive inflation hits us, will you call it "temporary fiscal/monetary misalignment"?

Let's see... we're into an age where anybody can "snap" and start shooting folks in crowded places. I suggest we either (a) dump the political correctness and zero in on people who pledge allegiance to the Koran or (b) issue "concealed carry" permits to anybody who can pass a "not likely to go postal" test. At least that way we can cut our losses.

Nobody seems to remember that a disgruntled former engineer of Iberian ancestry shot up his former employer's office THE VERY NEXT DAY. People seem to be more interested in religious motivations for some reason.
The elephant in the room is that the monkeys are not mature enough to play safely with the toys they've built. There isn't a one of them that can't be pushed to the point of deadly force when it is not required.

Why waste the money on this investigation we all know the root cause and that is political correctness. The lunatics in government push this diversity nonsense to the point where people see there is a problem they are afraid to do anything about it for fear of losing their job or being called a racist.His radical Islam was a secondary issue in this particular case. He could have been stopped, people knew he was nuts but they were afraid to do the right thing.

(Of course I notice the usual Jew Haters attacking Leiberman on this and protecting this clown that shot the soldiers.)

I don't trust Joe Lieberman...at all-that simple:he is no more than an israeli wearing the garb of a US "indepedent" Senator;he takes every opprtunity to bash Islam and Muslims to distract from israel's crimes against humanity and war cimes in Gaza and israel's stealing of Palestinian lands in front of the whole world and driving Obama in retreat with tail in between legs.

Hasa should be tried as an American and not as a Muslim-the same as Timothy Mcveigh and other criminals.

Personally, I believe Lieberman is only “taking charge” now because he was asked to wait. The man disgusts me. Lieberman is a grandstander, and doesn’t know the meaning of the word cooperative; he certainly doesn’t practice what he preaches, the old hypocrite. Right now he’s doing busy work, and I sincerely hope that he is ousted from his position as “committee chairman”. I am also so tired of the constant blame heaped upon Pres. Obama for everything, even situations that were clearly brought on by the past administration. I totally agree with jfern03, and sincerely believe we should be pulling together instead of playing the blame game. As a mother who lost her child to cancer I understand the blame game and how it works. If you find someone to blame you find someone to hate. The hate, in turn, gives people a focus and consumes and self-destructs them. It’s pointless; blaming doesn’t help or heal anyone.

It seems to me that, since Hasan's security checks occurred on George W. Bush's watch, we should be investigating officials from that regime who gave Hasan a free pass. Yet another example of the Bush admin's incompetence and inability to protect our national security. Yet another mess Dick-and-Dubya left for Obama to clean up. Yet another opportunity for Lieberman to flap his wings to attract attention to his miserable Henry Gibson impersonation.

Another stupid idea of the Obama Administration. When you have a President of our country apolizing on foreign soil, that we are insensitive to their culture; then what a surprise that the upper superiors of the FBI and other organizations did not or choose not to report due to the fear of being insensitive. YOU CANNOT BE INSENSITVE WHEN IT COMES TO SAFETY OF OUR COUNTRY AND OTHER AMERICANS; GET IT OBAMA.

Neo-conism is a cancer on the soul of America. They would have you believe that Islamic terrorists are everywhere. The reality is that as a percent of all terrorism Islamic terror doesn't even register on the richter scale.

Lieberman and Collins are grandstanding so as to be politically correct.

"Sen. Susan Collins (Maine), the panel's ranking Republican, reinforced Lieberman's points. She recalled that in the wake of the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks, investigations revealed that the attacks could possible have been prevented "if only the dots had been connected.""
_________

the "dots" of a singular person's life are not the same as an enormous worldwide plot.

while it may be excusable to not have predicted Ft Hood, it is unbelievable that our Intelligence Services did not know of what was to become 9-11.

At least somebody in The Federal Government
is still in touch with reality. Does anyone
in the PC Crowd still remember reality? Oh
yes; you can go to any front page website
for any Newspaper in The Middle East and
read Islam Declaring Jihad on America over
and over again. They do this every day, 365 days a year. They declare war on us
in dozens of city newspapers every day.
We are in absolute denial of their profuse
and ongoing declarations of intent to kill
every last one of us in America.

NIDAL HASAN WAS AN ADVISOR TO HOMELAND SECURITY - CHECK PAGE 29 OF THE FOLLOWING LINK

How much more is going to come out on this president, and our Homeland Security Organization???

Now we have a little insight into why Obama said to not jump to conclusions about Nidal Hasan and why Congressmen were not briefed before the press leak.

This murdering Muslim Terrorist who killed and wounded the soldiers and civilians at Ft Hood, Texas was an advisor to Obama's Homeland Security team. Look on page 29 of the Homeland Security Institute link below. At the Time he was at the Uniformed Service School of Medicine!

I wonder how many more skeletons there are to come to of the cupboard. Who else is there in the government or its numerous advisors or Czars that will harm our country and citizens?

Lieberman and Susan Collins, two racist senators doing everything in their power to derail the much needed healthcare bill by speading evil propaganda against muslim Americans, because they know muslims will never vote for corporate shrills like them. Grab the popcorn and get ready for the show.

As a white male it's easy for me to say that worrying about profiling etc should be second to preventing threats. My question for Lieberman would be this:

If we're going to quietly do away with the PC walls that Muslims hide behind, will we also do away with walls that the right wing American Taliban hides behind. The militias that McVeigh types creep out from, the Operation Rescue murderers, and the tea bagging groups who insist they are a majority but continue to get hammered in elections as they get more shrill. I'm sure the left wing nuts at ALF and whatever else are already being watched.

Birkenstocks and camouflage hats ought to be throwing up red signs as well. That is of course if Lieberman is concerned about all domestic terrorism and not just Muslims.......

They are barking up the wrong tree in occult justification of the Bush (yes Bush)agenda.
Hasan is a classic sociopath. This guy could not connect to anyone,much like the guy who killed all those people at Virginia Tech.
The Hasan dialectic is Al-Qaeda, but the real situation is his own inability to meet his needs via social interaction. He could not even find a wife from his Church.
The murderous rage was due to a weak ego, an inability to empathize, plus a chronic inability to meet his needs which resulted in uncontrolled rage. This man should be convicted of course. But, these factors are the most relevant issues here.
Our fixation on the "War on Terror" blinds us to strategic dangers such as Russia / Iran, China, and North Korea. This is not too much different than when the Great Powers focused on their frustrations about terrorism, rather than on strategic communication before World War ONE.
The big question is how the Army and DOD fail to recognize this problems? How did he ever become a doctor, let alone a psychiatrist ? This question has serious implications for the health of our soldiers.

"A handful of Republicans, led by Rep. Peter Hoekstra (Mich.), the top GOP lawmaker on the Intelligence Committee, have gone so far as to suggest that the Obama administration is engaged in a form of cover-up by not sharing more information with Congress."

This will end up being nothing more than another lame attempt to drag the previous administration through the mud. Blame everything on Bush/Cheney instead of what is the real cause: liberals dictating political correctness to the point that it caused several deaths. Enough of this nonsense!

And now our AG is going to hold show trials in NYC for terrorists, claiming that "they will receive no more of a bully-pulpit than they would if they were tried in Gitmo." Holder has got to be smoking crack if he believes this. How many news agencies are headquartered in Gitmo? How long will it be before cameras are allowed in the courtrooms? 10 days or 10 minutes? And who is making more of a mockery of American jurisprudence: Bush, who said these pieces of camel dung would be tried in a military tribunal and then regardless of the verdict, kept locked-up forever, or is it Holder, who says they will be tried in civilian courts and then regardless of the verdict, they will still be kept locked-up forever? What difference does a choice of court make if all you intend to do in the end is ignore the verdict? It matters only if there's more afoot here than just bringing these pieces of excrement to justice. What is really going on is the Obama administration wants a show, and no matter how many American citizens are endangered or killed, or how badly our national security is damaged by this ridiculous decision, Obama is going to get his show. I hope in the end that he chokes on it because our nation will suffer greatly as result of his and Holder's galactically stupid decision to bring these Islamic terds into our country.

Gotta hand it to the French. They at least aren't letting the bigoted muslims (purposely lower case "m") tell them how they will dress and what they will say or do in the Frenchman's country. The French have it down pat and may be the only ones left standing. Our British brethren have been taken over by the mulsims.

Siggghhh...can we please get Armageddon over with already? The infantile american mind just doesn't understand that we are at war with demon-spawn.

Even is Hasan turns out to be a terrorist, which is not likely, who cares. Get serious. The Republicans are trying to sabotage health care reform which could save many of the 45,000 who die annually because they lack health insurance.

The deaths on 9-11 only represent .007 percent of all the deaths from no insurance since then.

Nearly 2,000 Americans were killed when Huricane Katrina destroyed New Orleans. Those deaths were due to massive failures by key people in the Homeland Security Department. Yet Sen. Lieberman refused to use his committee on Homeland Security to investigate the failures by the Bush administration. If there are no Muslims involved, Lieberman is simply not interested. Please wake me when that pompus old fool decides to do something that doesn't involve a witch hunt or denying health care to Americans.

Latest Offerings from the Religion of Peace
"He who fights that Islam should be superior fights in Allah's cause"
Muhammad, prophet of Islam

2009.11.17 (Eelboon, Somalia) - A 29-year-old woman is planted in the ground and pelted to death with stones over adulterous sex.
2009.11.17 (Baghdad, Iraq) - A Jihad bomb kills two Iraqis.
2009.11.17 (Pattani, Thailand) - A Holy Warrior on a motorbike guns down a school bus driver through his side window.
2009.11.17 (Helmand, Afghanistan) - Two Afghan civilians are killed in a roadside attack by Sunni terrorists.
2009.11.17 (Kunduz, Afghanistan) - Taliban hardliners murder four guards at a security firm.
2009.11.16 (Kupwara, India) - Pakistani infiltrators attack an Indian security patrol, killing two members.

Rep. Peter Hoekstra should have made some comments about our own party that had plenty of warning about this guy. His work evaluations were miserable over a long period of time. Further, intel had some information that should have alerted the Bush Administration of this guy's "loaded gun" behavior. Further, Lieberman's grandstanding ought to be addressed. This public hearing could jeopardize a fair trial. I often wonder why having Lieberman as part of the Democrats serve them well. But in the end, I guess it is their decision. Actually all they accomplish is having a number count of a majority and not a majority in points of view. Their call, though, in the end.

i see below in these comments someone who says simply 'never trust a moslem.' yep, wasn't it those nasty moslems who exterminated 90% of the native peoples of the western hemisphere, australia, oceania and killed millions more in the slave trade in africa? and those moslems are renowned for their brutal colonizations of any country with resources like diamonds/oil/heroin south africa, iraq, vietnam, afghanistan.

i read a couple years ago that of the 472 treaties between the 'indian' tribes of the united states and the state or federal governments that some 450 had at one time or another been broken by the governments and 18 times by tribes. accounting audit of the bureau of indian affairs 'trust fund' of payments for mineral, oil, gas, uranium and other resources gained from their lands is missing some $170 billion since 1930. it also shows that these huge thefts were covered up by successive administrations. navajo author tony hillerman was the first to alert me to these facts and the movement to gain reparation for these crimes. looking into it, i learned that on at least 2 occasions in his presidency, bush was confronted at press conferences with questions about when these stolen funds would be repaid. bush's courageous response? he ignored the question and directed his attention to the next raised hand, instead.

trust a white christian? are you kidding? safer trusting a scorpion on your back. as i recall, bush was calling the iraq war a 'crusade' until he was reminded that this might offend certain moslem allies of the USG and the bush family, such as the saudi arabians...

isn't it ironic that the USG is always willing to go to WWIII for the right of the jews to israel as their homeland yet never talk about giving the native peoples their homeland back? actually, most jews/christians/moslems have about the same level of ethics and trustworthiness...

Liberman is neither a democrat nor a republican:he is an "i" which stands for israel.He should not be trusted.

His investigation by "his committee" is very timely:an opportunity for him to bash Islam and Muslims to distract from israel's war crimes, crimes agianst humanity and its defiance of obama and the whole world for its continued theft of the little Palestinian land left and in front of the "internatioanl community."

The more Lieberman pumps up the "threat" the better it is for his REAL #1 interest: Israel.
I say ANY American who puts the interests of a foreign nation ahead of the interests of the U.S. needs to be stripped of citizenship and deported.
The only "dots" that the people are apparently unable to connect is how our Mideast policies and the belligerent actions of Israel are the driving force behind the hatred that leads desperate people to resort to desperate acts of terror.

Look at the islamobama's trashing Lieberman on this post. He's about the only one being real in the senate about the filthy muslims. Lieberman deserves the Presidential Freedom award. Don't listen to these pathetic muslims and their sympathizers talking trash about Christian's and Lieberman. They are part of the devil's army and have made their choice. Their shrill jihadist voices are pathetic.

"how many civilian government and military islamic psychiatrists in america are latent terrorists?"

EVERYONE is a latent terrorist. Just push them too far and see what happens.
EVERYONE has a limit. Kill my wife and kids. Kill my brother. Occupy my nation.
Cut down my orchards, destroy my house, bomb my town, round up my people, put them in buildings and then bomb them.
How f***ing hard is that to understand?
Quit making excuses for the REAL cause.
They don't "HATE OUR FREEDOM".
THEY COVET IT!

oh, i get it, this and other justifications will be used to get implementation of democratic representative jane harman's 'violent radicalization and homegrown terrorism prevention act,' eh? this unbelievable bill was passed by both houses of congress by the usual overwhelming majority of the bush era in which all important bills passed 94-6 in senate for such as war and torture funding, patriot axe, military commissions act of 2005 which basically did away with constitutional posse comitatus 'as needed.' (that means when the food riots start, the troops can now be ordered to fire on their grandmas.)

as since 1991 the short definition of 'terrorism' for the US govt has been 'a person or organization which uses or advocates the use of force and violence in pursuit of political agendas; particularly as regards the overthrow of legitimate governments'... such revolutionary terrorists as jefferson, franklin, adams could be summarily disappeared into some rendition outsourced torture chamber indefinitely and without any legal rights. period. it should also be noted that this definition virtually defines american foreign policy which typically involves the overthrow of governments as 'legitimate' as this demockery is. overthrow the democratically elected allende in chile; repudiate teh election of hamas in palestine (only those people who vote the way the US wants are allowed democracy); even kill millions of iraqis to overthrow hussein that the USG empowered and armed to the teeth from the 60s through 1989.

an interesting aspect of the harman bill is how it bears on what george orwell termed 'thought-crime' in his prophetic '1984,' (1984 now seems kind of quaint and free by comparison with modern america, '5-minute hates' and all.') simply put, if a person thinks in ways which are as revolutionary as say, thomas jefferson... that person is viewed as a threat to national security. national security, shouldn't that be shortened to just 'natse'?

Maddogg-
You keep downplaying terrorism, saying 9/11 is overhyped. Clearly you didn't lose anyone in those 9/11 attacks. It wasn't that long ago that thousands of people died at the hands of Islamic terrorists right in my back yard, friends and co-workers alike.

Maybe terrorism isn't a threat to you because you've never served your country or been in harms way. You can make these judgements from your Ivory Tower. But for the men and woman like myself who have served, and who have been stationed at Ft Hood, and who have been touched by the scourge of terrorism and extremism, it isn't so easy for us to simply dismiss it as you do.

I'm not saying people should panic and run to the hills. But certainly we have a right to be concerned. Certainly we can ask for answers.

Once again Holy Joe shows how irony challenged he is. No outrage perpetrated by the Bush Administration could be investigated. No hearings were held. But a mentally ill soldier who happens to be Muslim, and bada-bing, we have hearings where he and his Republican pals can drone on ad nauseum about evil Muslims and terrorism.

And at the same time, he continues to perpretrate his own act of domestic terrorism by threatening to obstruct and/or kill health care reform.

When does the Democratic Caucus finally rebel and pull his gavel, regardless of what Harry and Rahm say?

say what you will....islam is the religion of the devil and as such it should be resisted with force if necessary. Our government is selling us out by Barrack Hussein Obama. He is trying to get America to follow the evil of Islam. I bet in his world of kow-towing to other nations leaders, he would bend a knee readily to the Saud's.

C'mon America, wake the heck up! You are being led to the slaughter by lib's and islam. When will my country fight to boot these people off her shores?

In 2007, it was documented that Hasan was proselytizing patients. This included a woman who was homicidal. Why was he not bounced out of the service right then? That activity was directed at highly vulnerable patients which is unethical and violates his medical and military oaths. Further he was carrying only 10% of the workload of the other psychiatrists, and refused to answer emergency calls. This was all documented in 2007.

The cost of corruption. Comprehending the gravity of threats to the people and to our country imposed by those within the government(s)

I am willing to testify and provide evidence showing that “the perils of homegrown extremism/terrorism, political correctness" and political/personal gains a have been brought to the attention of officials who took part in covering up and/or impeded investigation(s) following (filed) complaints pertaining to acts of terrorism/hate crimes where the lives of many were at stake.
When the police, the FBI, U.S. Senators, a mayor, a borough President, Homeland Security officials and their employees are engaged in covering up acts of terrorism/hate crimes on behalf of “friends”, do you really expect a “thorough investigation” to take place?
In order to prevent the next carnage, I hereby authorize WAPO to provide my email address to the victim’s families and to officials investigating the unwarranted death and injuries at fort Hood.

i see a post here praising liebrman for standing up to "the filthy moslems'... now correct me if i'm wrong but i think a fellow named adolph hitler used to use terms like that when describing jews, didn't he? in the new reich, moslems are 'the new jews' and can be thrown into torture chambers, secreted 'camps,' have their belongings seized and their civilians wiped out. of course, the church-state-corporatist media can focus its hate-ray on anyone or any group and shift the public's hatred-on-tap and warring bloodlust overnight, eh?

a brief history of america: kill 90% of all 'indians' and put the rest into concentration camps called reservations; kill millions of blacks to get millions of slaves; kill limeys; kill southerners; kill spanish-filippinos-cubans in the spanish-american war; kill germans; kill spanish for franco in the spanish civil war; finance the nazis then kill more germans; wage 30 years of economic war on the japanese then kill japanese; kill 300,000 civilians in hiroshima/nagasaki with no military value except to show the russians our new toy; kill koreans; kill vietnamese-cambodians-laotians; kill south americans; back apartheid south africa til the last minute; kill south americans; develop WMDs; develop MK Ultra psy-ops torture and mind control to create assassins and use in gitmos and rendition chambers; kill afghanis in 1980s; kill 2 million iraqis from 1990-2009 over our puppet hussein utterly empowered and armed from 1960s til 1989; help israel kill palestinians and clusterbomb lebanese; protect israel from UN inspection of 330+ nukes and CBW arsenal; kill balkans; kill more afghanis and pakistanis to stop taliban empowered by CIA/state department in 1980s afghan war...

like i say... the hate-ray can be refocused overnight. who next, 'those filthy canadians' perhaps? think i'm kidding? just wait til the north pole is melted and canada doesn't want to just turn it over to the US navy... (see the 'for official use only' 'US naval study for an ice-free arctic' which would also be a real eye-opener for the folks who say 'global warming is a hoax.')

Tinman1188
Terrorism is not much of a threat. yes, if one sees buildings tumbling down one thinks the world is ending. The reality is much different than the fantasy.

Your risk of falling and breaking your neck is far greater than risk of terrorism.

Also, we are not fighting terrorists in Afghanistan. The terrorists have all fled and we are fighting a civil war. Iraq is a civil war too with some terrorists wannabes thrown in for measure.

9-11 and the resultant "War on Terrorism" is rinky dink in comparison to other forms of danger and even other types of mayhem. Did you know Latin American Terrorism kills about 17,000 innocent American every year. Yet, we do not invade those countries.

And the list can go on. Bottom line 9-11 and this Muslim terrorists stuff is mostly media and political hype.

From the article:
"Keane said, "This is fundamentally about jihadist extremism, which is at odds with the values of America."
Lieberman agreed.
"We have great respect for diversity of religion but it should not be cover for bad behavior," the chairman said.
==
Senator Lieberman made a more ironic statement than he intended.
I feel the same way about him.
When Senator Gore picked Joe Lieberman for his running mate, I was initially impressed.
Senator Lieberman stated he was proud to be the first Jewish man to run for one of the nation's top slots.
I didn't know that much about Lieberman, but I heartily supported him because Gore chose him and because some of my best friends are Jewish.
(I'm Catholic and remember how proud President John Kennedy made me feel when he won, while I was out in real America, subject to some discrimination just because I was Catholic.)
Well, apparently Senator Lieberman can't distinguish between being independent and being a rebel (there's a difference).
As a matter of fact, every time he rails against healthcare reform, he reinforces one of the worst, most bigoted and rancid forms of discrimination against Judaism and Jews.
(It makes me very sad to have to point this out.)
It appears he's in the pocket of the big insurance firms whose home bases are in his district.
Mr. Aetna doesn't reflect the best of Judaism.
Now, he is trying to derail prosecution of the Fort Hood shooter, when those responsible for seeing justice is done have pleaded with him not to hold these hearings.
He has a very deaf ear and needs to be replaced and stripped of his chairmanship because he apparently thinks, like Sarah Palin, that any face time on TV, whether positive or negative, is good for him.
Connecticut voters need to take his brand of "rebellion" into consideration the next time they go to the polls in their next Senatorial race.
They need to elect a senator who will represent the people, not big financial tickets.

Ha Ha...Taz' predilection for the muslims is showing. Yes, muslims should be driven from our shores. They are a dangerous religion that tries to stifle ANY freedoms. Yes, there should be reprisals against the msulims. They cheer as americans die. They cheer as their own blows up....their own! they're filthy and scummy, and their religion is one based on "my way or the highway"...well, guess what? There's another way. The way of beating the snot out of islam!

Liberals who scoff at the mere mention of islamic terror are blood brothers of leftists who told us for years that Communism presented no danger to the United States; who mocked Ronald Reagan for calling the Soviet Union "an evil empire"; who, as teachers, took students to Castro's Cuba to marvel at the educational and health care systems the tyrant provided for "el pueblo." American liberals are critical of one country only- the one they live in. Liberals never change.

Tuesday, November 17, 2009 Email to a Friend ShareThisAdvertisement
51% of U.S. voters oppose Obama administration’s decision to try confessed chief and other suspected terrorists in a civilian Court for 9/11 attacks in New York City.

A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that just 29% favor the president’s decision not to try the suspects by military tribunal at the Guantanamo Naval Base in Cuba where they are now imprisoned.

who among media thought it bad manners to call obama out on his marxist references he referred to in his book?

his admiration for marxist Frank Marshall?
his association with former PLO RashidKhalidi?

who were among the media that dared not delve into what Rev. Wright was really all about?

no one dared expose the Wm. Ayers relationship which glaringly showed an affinity with enemies of the United States? and what did we end up with? a president who appears more protective of others than Americans?

MARTIN LUTHER KING WAS TRULY A GENIUS..
he solved so muc in his one statement:

JUDGE BY CONTENT OF CHARACTER INSTEAD OF COLOR OF SKIN. imo, obama is in office for all the wrong reasons and its not just his fault. it is the fault of the media who didnt have the guts to do their jobs without fearing they might be called racists.

What religion was Ted Bundy? Or John Gacy, Charles Manson, Richard Speck, Ted Kazinsky, the Columbine killers? Or any of the other hundreds of murderers currently sitting in maximum security prisons?

Until now, we haven't attributed mass murderers' actions to their religion. Even if they thought they were getting instructions from God to wipe out everyone who worked at the evil company that fired them or otherwise set them off, we've never blamed their specific religion. We never even blamed the religions of Hitler, Stalin or Mussolini (or even Dubya) for their actions, which killed millions.

Should we be looking at the religion that spawned the guy who killed the abortion doctor? That one in particular seems to have just as much of a direct relationship to the church as Hasan's rampage, probably more.

If he had been quoting Clint Eastwood ("Do you feel lucky, punk?") instead of shouting "Allah Akbar," would his religion still matter?

Historically, the Catholic Church is the most bloodthirsty of them all. Half the reason Muslims think the rest of us are heathens is because the Catholics tried to commit genocide and get rid of them all. You might have read about it -- it was called the Crusades. There was a follow-up called The Spanish Inquisition -- convert and confess or die.

All to spread the word of the "Prince of Peace."

My point is -- If we're going to start blaming religion as the root cause of violent behavior, Christianity would be the first to go. Or maybe the Westboro Baptist Church.

If I were a peaceful Muslim, the rampant bigotry and hate displayed here would probably make me feel a little paranoid. Possibly enough to believe I must be prepared to defend myself at all times. Crank up the pressure a few more notches. Does he crack and go postal (another group whose religion should be examined)? Not yet? Give it time...

Liberals who scoff at the mere mention of islamic terror are blood brothers of leftists who told us for years that Communism presented no danger to the United States; who mocked Ronald Reagan for calling the Soviet Union "an evil empire"; who, as teachers, took students to Castro's Cuba to marvel at the educational and health care systems the tyrant provided for "el pueblo." American liberals are critical of one country only- the one they live in. Liberals never change.

Posted by: mhr614 | November 19, 2009 4:28 PM | Report abuse

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

The USSR was not much of a threat as a result of the mutual shared destrucition principle. The USSR was on its way to collapse before Ronnie Raygun aided bin-Laden to war aganist them in Afghanistan

Truth be told, Ronnie Raygun, being the imbecile he was, created for us bin-Laden.

re the aptly named bloodletting's comment that my bias towards moslems is showing. not. i have a jewish wife (raised that way but like me and christianity, doesn't practiice.)we have several jewish friends most of whom oppose israeli actions like concentrationcamp gaza. i have plenty of christian friends and a handful of moslem friends, some of whom 'keep the faith' some of whom don't. i rant against moslems abiding of the moses doctrines of misogyny ('thou shalt not suffer an witch to live') and gay bashing (best to burn a witch with a bundle of sticks comprised of two gay men...) which the moslems have taken to the max with clitoral mutilation to desex women, mass killings of gays likenable to popes in the middle ages, etc. show me evil oppressive church-state zealots oppressing and committing genocide and you'll find me ranting and railing about them. i seem to have this profound disliking of murderers and torturers.

please Taz...you can hide behind your anonymity all you like and say that you have a jewish wife, blah blah. We know you're a muslim sympathizer. You and Maddog both...heck you might be the same person trying to make it look like America is wrong here, but the truth is, many of us know a yellow dog by his true colors...as in yours.

Muslims should be driven from our shores and liberalism should be a thing of the past...a bygone era of stupidity.

Islam is a dangerous religion. The Muslim sympathizers like to trot out the few brain dead right wing nuts here, but how many terrorist bombings a day go on in the name of Allah? How many terrorists strap themselves up with a bomb because of their filthy religion? So much more. It will be brought to our shores even quicker now that Barrack Hussein Obama is in power.

But America is too dumb. TV has rotted their brains. Wake up America. The true evil is here!

hey bloodletting, (wotta name!) you say the 'filthy, scummy moslems' you think should be wiped out, practice 'my way or the highway,' eh? here's a bit of history for you... when queen isabela of spain sent her 4th and 5th set of ships to 'the new world' she ordered the men to behead any who would not accept the prince of peace as their saviour and cut off the hands of those who refused to load gold for spain. the last pope, who helped the nazis make zyklon-b gas to kill the jews when he was in their warsaw camp, real holy that...), tried to have isabela made a 'saint' for her attitude of 'my way or the beheading' principle applied to the western hemisphere. however, isabela didn't meet the requirements as she wasn't martyred nor had she ever performed any miracle; so the pope had her 'beatified' a kind of 2nd-level sainthood. but i doubt seriously that you dig into history, eh?

Hey Taz (wotta turd!), how about we talk about today and it's relevance, not the past of hundreds of years. Look at what your filthy muslims are doing TODAY! They're blowing people up...sometimes their own...in the name of some stupid ass god. I spit on Allah. I wipe my butt with an image of mohamed. Pah! A pox on you and your ilk. Your kind should be driven fro our shores.

hey bloodletting, my name is taz delaney so i'm not even anonymous. is your name really bloodletting? it should be.

btw... i'm no liberal as these modern 'liberals' wage war as much as rightwingers or religious zealots. if you despise authentic liberality, you despise extremist liberals like jefferson and franklin, too. you must've liked apartheid south africa and auschwitz, eh? nothing liberal going on there.

Here's what the "loving" koran has to say about other religions and those that don't believe in it:

4:74 "Therefore let those fight in the way of Allah, who sells this world's life for the hereafter; and whoever fights in the way of Allah, then be he slain or victorious, We shall grant him a mighty reward."

58:5 Those who resist Allah and His Messenger will be crumbled to dust, as were those before them; for we have already sent down clear signs and the unbelievers will have a humiliating penalty."

9:123 "O you who believe! Fight those of the unbelievers who are near to you and let them find in you hardness and know that Allah is with those who guard."

9:5 "Then when the forbidden moths are past, then fight and slay the Pagans wherever you find them, an seize them, beleaguer them, and lie in wait for them in every stratagem."

9:29: "Fight those who do not believe in Allah."

Here's Christianity:
Luke 6:27, "But I tell you who hear me: Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you. If some strikes you on one cheek, turn to him the other also."

From the comments:
"Can't wait to get you idiots out of power so we can get this country back on track!"
Posted by: thebloddletting | November 19, 2009 2:15 PM
==
Yeah, right.
Back to giveaways to the big financial institutions, no regulation, and driving the country deeper into financial collapse for the sake of GOP cronyism?
I don't THINK so.
You've revealed yourself the idiot, buddy.
I didn't have to.

Hey Judy-in-TX, we know you voted for Barrack Huessein Obama so you could promote your brand of idiotic liberalism and bring Allah closer to our halls of power. You're the idiot here. Your kind won't be in power long. It can't. You make so damned many fool mistakes. Can't wait. Liberalism is for the idiocy of youth.

"A handful of Republicans, led by Rep. Peter Hoekstra (Mich.), the top GOP lawmaker on the Intelligence Committee, have gone so far as to suggest that the Obama administration is engaged in a form of cover-up by not sharing more information with Congress. (The House Intelligence panel did receive a classified briefing on Fort Hood Thursday morning.)"

Just when you think that the Republicans could not go farther off the deep end without drowning in a wave of demented self righteousness, along comes Rep. Hoekstra to introduce the insane suggestion that Obama is covering up something(?), and for what reason exactly?? Obama has been in office for ten months. Hasan was in the Army for years. In fact, it appears that the concern about his mental health and religious leanings began long before he was transferred to Fort Hood, in other words during the Bush era. Is Obama trying to cover up whatever? for Bush, too? For that matter, is either President culpable for things that took place at levels way below their pay grade and of which they clearly had no knowledge? And what would any President have to gain by covering up an incident that has very little to do with him? To imply that Obama would not want the country to be informed about a national tragedy that took place in public is frankly, slanderous, as is the suggestion that he would somehow benefit from our ignorance.

I would also ask what is wrong with asking Congress to take a deep breath and hold off for awhile so that the parties who are directly involved can unearth more of the facts? Does Peter Hoekstra think that he can do a better job than the people appointed by Gates? Let's be honest here, Gates, who worked for Bush and now Obama is not the partisan, Hoekstra is. It is certainly within Gates' jurisdiction and interest to get to the bottom of this heinous incident and somehow I don't think that he or anyone else should have to trot on over to Congress so Mr. Hoekstra and his cronies can give speeches about "political correctness" before they even know how much that influenced the circumstances of the crime. Hoekstra and his fellow committee members should be ashamed of themselves for using a tragedy as a backdrop to their political grandstanding.

Again, in order to prevent the next carnage, I hereby authorize WAPO to provide my email address to the victim’s families and to officials interested in investigating the unwarranted death and injuries at fort Hood.

The cost of corruption. Comprehending the gravity of threats to the people and to our country imposed by those within the government(s)

I am willing to testify and provide evidence showing that “the perils of homegrown extremism/terrorism, political correctness" and political/personal gains a have been brought to the attention of officials who took part in covering up and/or impeded investigation(s) following (filed) complaints pertaining to acts of terrorism/hate crimes where the lives of many were jeopordized.
When the police, the FBI, U.S. Senators, a mayor, a borough President, Homeland Security officials and their employees are engaged in covering up acts of terrorism/hate crimes on behalf of “friends” and money, do you really expect a “thorough investigation” to take place?

Political correctness has allowed terrorism to reach our military bases. liberals have made this happen. You really so star struck about lib's now? Wait until more of your sons and daughters are murdered in the name of Allah and the lib's try to stop any investigations into political correctness.

Still, you have to ask why the BUSH ADMINISTRATION, kept this guy in the army for several years?

You also have to wonder: since they were so upset about Hasan proselytizing, are they going to go back and throw out all the right-wing Christian proselytizers who got caught "spreading the gospel" at the Air Force Academy?? Those nutjobs are going to be flying armed jet planes and you can be sure that they'll be praying just before THEY blow a bunch of folks to pieces.

scuse me rusty3 but you said "More and more I am impressed by the common-sense wisdom of the late 40s and 50s: we should not tolerate people who are not tolerant." what in the world are you talking about? blacks, even returning veterans, found such a 'tolerance' as crosses burning and 'fair game lynchings.' as i recollect, back in the 40s-50s, a knee-slapper of a bus joke went like this, 'if you're white, you're alright. brown?stick around. black? get to the back.' mccarthy had his HUAC hearings in full stride aborting the 1st amendment right to freedom of expression. japanese-americans released from internment camps found their lands, homes and assets stolen. women were expected to be 'barefoot, pregnant and in the kitchen.' gays were so not tolerated that it just wasn't discussed' in polite company' and psychiatry was still administering shock treatment or even lobotomy to 'cure' homosexuality. murders of gays were often not even investigated. and if you were caught with some pot it was even worse than today. what possible 'tolerance' are you referring toin those years? a general tolerance for intolerance?

ACtually, the do-nothing Congress has shown surprising backbone for a change in challenging Obama on his request that the Lieberman Committee proceed "slowly." The trust of the FBI is nonexistent. Hopefully, Lieberman and his colleagues will keep that in mind and refuse to play footsie with the incompetent Feds.

As for 9/11, Holder is justly under the gun for having the murderers tried in New YOrk City. We've had enough of Islamics; we've got more than we need.

Perhaps, we should send them all to Turkey with the blogger Azisk, also an Islamic, who kills Kurds in his spare Turkish time.

In the interim, consider this. There are many New YOrkers who want the 9/11 murderers in the ground. They're not interested in their "civil rights."

"Hey,Judy-in-TX: -- We know you voted for Barrack Huessein Obama so you could promote your brand of idiotic liberalism and bring Allah closer to our halls of power."
Posted by: thebloddletting | November 19, 2009 5:28 PM
==
Of course I voted for Barack Obama (correct spelling).
But don't presume you know my motivation, buddy boy.
I live in Texas.
We knew all about him and his mindlessness.
Already.
Not to mention his complete incompetence as a governor.
He never took on a business he couldn't drive into the ground.
What he did for Texas, he then proceeded to do for the whole country.
Only suckers and blind fools voted for him, along with a notable bunch of far right religious radicals.
Twice.
Goes to show you.
I'm surprised even an illusion of the United States of America survived.
Now, we're trying to restore the country as the demons dance around in circles.
Sing along, buddy boy.

Looks to me as though someone is trying to use this incident to show the current administration "soft on terror."

The root cause of all this is the policy that got us stuck in open-ended engagements. We never got a proper investigation of any of the actions that led to the invasion and occupation of both Iraq and Afghanistan - two totally unnecessary actions that have led to untold suffering.

The shootings at Hood are criminal acts, and should be treated as such. This panel is nothing more than an attempt at gaining some sort of political traction.

Liberals are so far gone with their political correctness, it has left them incapable of seeing their insaneness. They are so defensive about protecting evil that they cannot see the vulgar, vile ways of their survival. If they could just look from the outside in, they would find that they are empty of the heart, fix on deviancy of the mind and at an attack mode every waking moment. I am praying for them as we all have to share this space, for society's sake, for humanity's sake and for our Creators Blessings.

Progressive Liberal Parenting Polices
that lead to death and destruction

They are brutal on children
But soft on Child assaulter and Abusers
They have no parental skills, nor human respect nor decency for others that respect and protect children
They are an extremely vile breed

I think it is now important for all those who are not muslims must study Quran, the holy book of muslims. This will other nations to understand the teachings of muslims. People at large are fond of reading books then why not Quran. All answers to all questions are there in black and white. It is equally true that the word " Jihad " has created lot of confusion and the incentives offered by God towards Jihad is also not an hidden factor. Muslims consider non-muslims as "Infidels" who are liable to be punished in they do not accept their versions of knowing God and their Prophet. We as Christians follow what Jesus Christ said " Love your neighbour as yourselves ". Neighbour can be any one. The Parable of Good Samartan is front of us.

Gun control regs on the base made it a disarmed victim zone. After all, notice how the fight ended, after Hasan got shot. So why give a terrorist ten minutes to commit his shooting rampage? (Ten minutes was the response time of the civilian cops.) Get rid of the stupid (anti-human right of self defense) regs on US military bases. If soldiers can carry guns in Iraq, then they should be allowed to carry guns on military bases in Texas (and the rest of the US, especially if they have Texas concealed gun permits.

It's good that the Congress is looking at the Ft. Hood Massacre and concluding it's a case of Muslim jihadist terrorism. Now will they go the next step and look at mass Muslim immigration and conclude it's threatening to undermine everything the U.S. has built, or will they whimp out? If more people studied the real history of Islam's rise, spread and core beliefs starting in the 7th cent., they'd understand the 7th cent. mindset that drives jihadists and better be able to cope with them. Study free online with the Historyscoper at http://go.to/islamhistory